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Local History - Holly Mount mansion and families that lived there

Introduction

This is a story about a long gone Victorian mansion named Holly
Mount in Great Malvern in the county of Worcestershire, England,
and some of the families that lived there.

Princess
Victoria stayed at Holly Mount when she visited Malvern in 1830, and the
Royal Collection lists a lithograph said to be after the style of
watercolourist John Bradley (1786 - 1843) titled 'Holly Mount, Malvern,
Residence of Duchess of Kent, dated 1831'. This is described as a view of a
fine house, 3 floors high, with double round bays, balcony on top floor with
ironwork casting. Walled garden to right, lawn in foreground. Victoria on
pony, Duchess of Kent and a man walking behind, another lady on steps. This
is almost certainly the image shown below.

The description of the house is similar to that of Rose
Bank (demolished about 1959) which once stood in Rose Bank Gardens to the
south of Belle Vue Terrace; a photograph of Rose Bank can be found in Brian
Iles' book 'Malvern Through Time'.

At first we had wondered if Holly Mount mansion had been
demolished in order to build in 1876 the Congregational Church, which stands
next to Brays' Outfitters above the Worcester Road. However, it seems that
assumption was wrong as an Ordnance Survey map of 1926 shows that Holly
Mount Mansion was then still in existence and stood several hundred yards to
the north of the church and Brays (see map above). The house stood in large
grounds, well separated from other buildings, so would have been a good
choice for the royal party in 1830.

Lithographic print of Holly Mount

Malvern Museum holds a glass slide of a
lithographic print of Holly Mount attributed to the artist John Bradley. A copy
of the slide, very kindly provided by the Curator of Malvern Museum is
shown below, to which we have added a slight tint.

Holly Mount by J Bradley circa 1831 (source: Malvern Museum)

A transcription of the fuzzy legend below the image reads:

Drawn from nature & on stone by I Bradley -
Printed by C Hullmandel

HOLLY MOUNT, MALVERN

The Residence of the Duchess of Kent

The View is dedicated to Her Royal Highness by special
Permission

by Her Royal Highnesses most devoted and very humble
Servant

You may wonder why the picture was drawn on stone - the early lithographic process
used to make multiple copies involved drawing, using oil
or wax, on a limestone tablet, etching the uprotected surface with acid, and
then inking the tablet in order to print on paper for either books or to make
framed prints.

The history of Holly Mount

An early reference to the house can be found inscribed on
a monument to
Thomas Woodyatt RN in Great Malvern Priory. Thomas was the son of Dr
George Woodyatt MD (1764 - 1824), Senior Physician at Worcester Infirmary
who had married Hannah Freeman, and whose ancestors farmed at Cradley.

The Woodyatt family seems to have been well connected.
For example, Thomas's brother Rev Edward Woodyatt (1797 - 1886) married
Louisa Georgiana Maria Gresley, daughter of colliery owner Sir Nigel Bowyer
Gresley, by his second wife.

Thomas had married another wealthy lady, Harriet
Beresford of Copton Hall Ledbury in 1818, and their marriage settlement
makes reference to one of them owning the Holly Mount Estate in Great
Malvern. A trade directory of 1828 records Thomas living at Holly Mount
Cottage on the edge of St Ann's Road so it's possible that Holly Mount
mansion was built for the couple about that time, though possibly it was
built earlier and the couple had for example either moved out while the
property was being extended or in anticipation of the visit of Princess
Victoria.

Lt Thomas Woodyatt RN died on 6th June 1841 in his
fiftieth year and is buried in the Priory churchyard. Harriet Woodyatt
continued to live at the house until her death on 31st January 1863.

The Holly Mount Estate, Great Malvern, was offered for
sale in 1863 by auctioneers Messrs Beadel & Co, of which William James Beadel
was one of the partners. A map showing the considerable extent of the estate
is shown below (click to enlarge).

Holly Mount estate 1863 - source: Malvern Museum

Some of the people who subsequently lived at the house
can be found listed in trade directories and the census (see below).
Sources suggest that the house was destroyed in a fire, possibly in the
1930s, and was demolished leaving the site empty for many years. If so there
may be mention of this in the archives of the Malvern Gazette - do let us
know if you come across a reference to the house.

Residents of Holly Mount mansion

So who was in residence after Harriet Woodyatt's death in 1863?

Kelly's Trade Directory of 1870 records Miss
Caroline Cooper having a
ladies' school at Holly Mount. Earlier her school had been at Elmsdale in
Abbey Road, and by 1871 the school had returned to Abbey Road, occupying
Malvernbury. Perhaps Holly Mount or its location had proved unsuitable as a girls' boarding
school.

Trade directories of 1872 and 1873 record Henry Wilson,
BA (classics) Cambridge having a boarding school for young gentlemen at
Holly Mount. This is confirmed by the 1871 census which lists:

Henry Wilson born 1832, his wife Sarah and son Henry
Inchcape; an assistant master, nurse, cook, two house-maids, kitchen-maid
and page; and seventeen pupils aged between 9 and 16 years.

By 1881 Henry Wilson had moved on to the larger 'Link
School' based in the prestigeous hotel next to Malvern Link railway station.

In 1872 Thomas Cox, possibly a retired draper, and his family lived nearby at Holly Mount Cottage.

Kelly's trade directory of 1876 lists George William
Ewing in residence. Later in 1881 he is recorded as a retired Broker, born
Liverpool about 1799, living at Pembridge Villa in Graham Road.

The 1881 census records painter David Bates living with
his family nearby at Holly Mount Cottage; he is described as an artist, landscape in
oil colour, born March, Cambridgeshire about 1842. This may be the
David
Bates (1840 - 1921) who is listed in the
Dictionary of Victorian Painters thus:

Midlands landscape painter, worked in Birmingham and
Worcester. Exhibited at the RA from 1872, also at SS and GG. Style and
subjects similar to other artists of the Birmingham school, such as Joseph
Thors, and SH Baker. Also made many small oil sketches of hedges and plants,
which he usually inscribed and signed on the reverse.

Kelly's directory of 1884 also lists him as an artist of
Holly Mount Cottage, St Ann's Road. David Bates moves around a lot, and by 1911
he is a Painter and Artist working on his own account at home, living at Blandford House Teddington; his son David Samuel Bates then aged
34 is an Art Agent.
Click to see some of his paintings on the Art UK website

Meanwhile by 1880, Stephen Robinson JP, Deputy Lieutenant
for Herefordshire, born Skipton about 1830, had taken up residence at Holly
Mount Mansion. He was a farmer who, when the railway passed through his
land, invested in railway shares and through doing so made his fortune. He
died at Bournemouth in 1916. The full story of Stephen Robinson of Lynhales
can be found on the Lyonshall history website.

Kelly's directory of 1896 recorded Mrs (Hannah Sophia) Rathbone
in residence. Her husband, William Benson Rathbone born at Liverpool in 1826,
had died at Holly Mount on 26th October 1892. In 1881 he had been a Cotton
Broker living in Liverpool, so they probably retired to Great Malvern;
Hannah died at Liverpool in 1914.

Kelly's directories of 1900 and 1902 recorded in
residence Thomas Arthur Carless Attwood who was born at Sion Hill House, Wolverley, Worcestershire on
27th May 1863. He was the grandson of
Thomas
Aurelius Attwood
MP (1783 - 1856) who had died at Dr Edward Johnson's water cure
establishment at Ellerslie in Abbey Road, Great Malvern in 1856. Thomas
Arthur Carless Attwood, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, had married
the Honourable Hilda Evelyn Pomeroy, daughter of James Spencer Pomeroy, 6th
Viscount Harberton and Florence Wallace Legge at Kensington in 1892. Arthur
and Hilda's marriage was annulled in 1902, and the 1911 census
records him back at Sion Hill House mansion, which was once the family seat
of the Baskerville family. In 1911 Hilda was still living in Malvern at
Eaton Lodge, Malvern Wells, employing a cook and a housemaid. Hilda died at
Minehead in 1948 and one of her executors was Air Vice Marshal
Sir
Philip Woolcott Game.

The Curator at Malvern Museum told us that Hilda's
mother Lady Florence Harberton, who was eccentric, self-confident,
dedicated, and rich, campaigned for it to be acceptable for women to wear
more practical clothing, eg for cycling, and that she was one of the
founders of the
Rational Dress Society of which she was president in 1883.

Apparently Viscount and Lady Harberton visited
Malvern most summers latterly staying at Oriel House in Tibberton Road a short walk
from Holly Mount. This should not be confused with another house named Oriel Villa
opposite Holly Mount which was next door to Montreal House where Charles Darwin's daughter died in
1851. In 1902 Viscount Harberton had been listed as a JP for
Herefordshire perhaps partly explaining his visits. In 1841 James Harberton
had first visited Malvern, aged 4 years, with his parents, staying at
Cotswold House on the Worcester Road - now known as Abberley, where the
Water Cure Dr James Loftus Marsden lodged when he first came to Great
Malvern.

Abberley House formerly Cotswold House

Florence must have been a Suffragette for in 1911 she wrote on her census form:-

As long as I am refused a vote I refuse to fill up
the Census paper. Florence W Harberton

Viscountess the Right Honourable Florence Wallace
Harberton died a few days later at London on 30th April 1911. The
Probate Calendar records that her husband Viscount James Spencer
Pomeroy Haberton, of Elm Bank Malvern, died the next year on 4th December
1912; his ashes are buried in a family vault in Brookwood Cemetery. Elm Bank,
a relatively small house on the Worcester Road, still stands and is three doors north of Oriel Villa, opposite the Holly Mount Estate
(see photo below).

Elm Bank

The 1911 census next records retired brewer Herbert Hall Woodbridge in
residence at Holly Mount with his wife Julia and four servants. He was
earlier a partner in the Yorkshire Stingo Brewery at Marylebone London,
trading as Woodbridge and Co. They had no children.

Herbert Hall Woodbridge of Holly Mount, Great Malvern,
died at
Browns Hotel
London in 1921. Many famous people have stayed at Browns and some say Agatha
Christie based her book 'At Bertram's Hotel' on it.

Julia Woodbridge died at Holly Mount
three years later on 24th December 1924, and the mansion was put up for sale
in 1925.

After WWI few people could afford the expense of running
a large house and so perhaps Holly Mount was bought by a developer, who left
it empty until it was eventually destroyed in a fire.

Modern times

A large yellow brick built house, named Holly Mount,
probably erected about 1994, now stands in the grounds, some yards south of
the old mansion; perhaps in memory of the original building it is of stylish
design and includes a bowed facade. Access is from Queens Road next to Holly
Mount URC church. On the north side of this, with access from the Worcester
Road, is a pre-war 4 bedroom house named Silver Hill which was also built in
the grounds of Holly Mount mansion in the 1930s. Both properties probably
have splendid views across the Severn Valley like the original mansion

Beyond,
on the hillside just above 'Hill House', can be glimpsed the mast of the TV transmitter, which was
originally built to serve the Worcester area.

References

Ordnance Survey Map of Great Malvern and West Malvern 1926

England and Wales census 1851 to 1911

National Probate Calendar

Kelly's Trade Directories 1828 to 1925

Sale particulars of Silver Hill, 2008

Illustration of house and map of estate, Malvern museum

The image below is a modern panorama of the Worcester Road viewed from
Guarlford illustrating the position of Holly Mount relative to other
buildings - click image to enlarge.